Abstract
In “The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism”, published in1904/05, Max Weber claims that a constituent part of the capitalist spirit, and not only this but of modern culture, namely, the rational conduct of life on the foundation of the idea of the calling, was born out of the spirit of Christian asceticism. In 1907-1910, Karl Fischer and Felix Rachfahl went on debates with Weber separately. They accused Weber of distorting history and presenting terms and definitions that were adjusted to his thesis. Weber denied this in his replies and made clear the most important point in understanding his thesis. In this paper, Fischer and Rachahl’s arguments and Weber’s replies are presented chronologically in chapter 1 to chapter 4. After analyzing their arguments, I conclude that while there might be some faults in Weber’s arguments, Weber’s central thesis in PE still could be valid and both Fischer and Rachfahl indeed misunderstood the intentions of Weber in PE.